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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26466472">In the middle of the night</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irrelevantrelevancy/pseuds/Irrelevantrelevancy'>Irrelevantrelevancy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Paint The Sky [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Snyder's a BITCH</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:29:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,221</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26466472</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irrelevantrelevancy/pseuds/Irrelevantrelevancy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was cold. That was the first thing Tony noticed as he crept into the room. The linoleum floors made his feet feel cold, he wished he had his socks. He shut the door behind him softly, but apparently not soft enough. The sound of the wooden door shutting seemed to echo across the room, he held his breath.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Racetrack Higgins &amp; Jack Kelly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Paint The Sky [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1891075</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In the middle of the night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey guys I hope you enjoy this fic! This is set in the PTS AU but it can be read as a stand alone, it'll probably just give you more context if you read from the beginning. this does deal with dark themes such as a*use and other matters so please proceed with caution</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was cold. That was the first thing Tony noticed as he crept into the room. The linoleum floors made his feet feel cold, he wished he had his socks. He shut the door behind him softly, but apparently not soft enough. The sound of the wooden door shutting seemed to echo across the room, he held his breath. This was the big boys room and they didn’t like being woken up. If any of them woke up they would tell The Spider and get him in trouble. Tony’s bottom lip wobbled, he didn’t like getting in trouble, especially from The Spider. He always grabbed his arms too hard and pinched him when he cried because he was a big boy and big boys didn’t cry. So Tony stopped crying, or at least he tried to. Now was harder than ever because it was dark and he couldn’t remember where Jack’s bed was. He sniffled a bit and brought his shirt up to wipe his eyes, he already couldn’t see anything and the tears were making it worse. He tried to do what the nice lady at school had told him to calm down but it wasn’t working, he wanted Jack.</p><p>A whimper slipped past his lips and he quickly covered his mouth. He took a few more steps forward and tried his best to remember where Jack’s bed was. There was something special on it that he remembers Jack talking about, but the problem is he doesn’t remember what it is. He should have listened better. His feet pattered against the floor as he shuffled closer to the bunks, Jack had a single bed cause he was one of the oldest, he remembers that. That ruled out the bunk beds. He wiped his eyes and kept shuffling around trying his best to keep quiet. He didn’t want to wake anyone. In the corner of his eye he saw a figure in the window and stopped cold in his tracks. </p><p>His body was frozen.</p><p>He wanted to move. He was <em> trying </em> to move. But he couldn't. He couldn’t move and tears were flowing down his face and he was shaking because god what if that person was here to kill him? What if it was The Spider? What if he knew that Tony was out of bed? He would put him in the closet, he didn’t want to go back to the closet, he couldn’t-</p><p>“Tony?”A voice whispered, and how did it know his name? His knees wobbled as he heard soft footsteps coming towards him and he cried harder. He just wanted to go back to bed, the volunteers were coming tomorrow and he wanted to play with them. He should have stayed in the room with Crutchie.</p><p>He felt a hand on his shoulders and was abruptly spun around to face-</p><p>“Jack”He whimpered and quickly wrapped his arms around him. His body slowly began to relax but he was still shaking uncontrollably now with the added benefits of hiccups. He felt his feet lifted off the ground and he buried his face in the crook of Jack’s neck.</p><p>“I-I couldn find you-”He sniffled, “An-and it was scary, cause I don wan’ the spider to-and I saw someone in the window-and where were you?”</p><p>The two eventually ended up at Jack’s bed and he made quick work of getting him tucked in. “You gotta slow down, what happened?”</p><p>Tony pulled the blankets taut around him and rocked himself back and forth.“I couldn find your bed, Jack.”</p><p>“Uh huh”Jack said, pulling off his shoes.</p><p>“A-and I was scared of wakin the others up”Tony said, shoving his pointer and middle finger in his mouth. Jack wanted to say something but decided against it, he was still six, it was okay.</p><p>“Why’re you scared of wakin the others?”Jack asked, furrowing his brows.</p><p>“Because one of thems said that they’re gonna hit me if I wake them up again”he said, rubbing his ear with his other hand.</p><p>“Who said that?”Jack asked.</p><p>“Dany”</p><p>Jack sighed and ran a hand through Race’s curls. “Dany got adopted months ago, Tone. He’s not gonna bother you no more”</p><p>“But what if-”</p><p>“Nope”Jack said, shaking his head. “If you can’t find me you wake up one of the boys and ask, okay?”</p><p>“Even Spark an’ Laces?”He asked. Those were the really big kids, they slept in the corner of the room and they were eleven. Jack ruffled his hair and nodded.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>“Even Spark and Laces”Jack said, “We’re family here, we all gotta look out for each other. Okay?” </p><p>“Okay”He said, “But what about who was in the window?”</p><p>“That was just me”Jack said, “I went outside for a little bit”</p><p>“The Spider doesn like that”he said, shaking his head.</p><p>“I don’t care what he likes”Jack scoffed, “One day we won’t have to deal with him”</p><p>“Really?”He asked, snuggling up against the pillow.</p><p>“Really”Jack said, “Now scoot over, we gotta get some sleep”</p><p>“But tomorrow’s Saturday”He whined, “Can’t we stay u-”</p><p>“Nope”Jack said, “Tomorrow is visitors day, gotta have you an’ Charlie up early so we can look presentable”</p><p>“Presentable?”He said slowly, “What’s that mean?”</p><p>Jack’s grin was barely visible in the dark, but it was there. “Means look good, my friend Davey taught me it”</p><p>“Davey teaches you a lot”He said, “How come he’s not a teacher?”</p><p>“Cause he’s seven”Jack scoffed, “Too little to be a teacher”</p><p>“You’re seven too”he said, “And you do a whole bunch of stuff”</p><p>There was silence for a bit. “Yeah...I guess I do”</p><p>“You’re like a superhero”He giggled but it soon turned into a yawn.</p><p>“Get some sleep”Jack said, rolling his eyes. “Early mornin, remember?”</p><p>“Night, Jack,”He said, turning to face the wall.</p><p>“Goodnight, Tony”</p><p>Jack couldn’t really sleep. He wanted to be outside, not cooped up in here with everyone. He liked the fresh air, it felt too crowded in here. He missed school, he missed school and Davey. Maybe Tony was right, maybe he did do stuff most seven year olds didn’t. He cleaned and helped out in the kitchen and made beds and changed diapers and cleaned up messes. But that’s what everyone here did. From the minute you were out of diapers you were a set of hands He wondered.</p><p>Did Davey do any of this stuff? Whenever he saw Davey it was only at school and he just sat around and read, he wondered if he did that at home too? All the time in the world to sit and read. Jack wouldn’t do that, no. he would play and watch cartoons and paint and do everything he ever wanted to do. Maybe that could happen one day, maybe he’d get adopted. But that means he’d be leaving Tony and Charlie behind, he couldn’t do that. They were his brothers. He groaned and ran a hand over his face. He took one look at Tony who was knocked out cold and shook his head.</p><p>He wouldn’t leave either of them behind. They were family. </p><p>Little did those three know their lives would change forever when a sweet talking woman who smelled like vanilla and sugar came bustling through those doors.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you guys enjoyed this! Please leave a comment, they go a long way :)<br/>But please let me know if you like a peek into these boys past for this AU because I can definitely write more about it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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